Terabit trial gives Telstra some backbone

The 995 kilometre optic fibre link from Sydney to Melbourne has played host to Australia's first demonstration of a commercial terabit-per-second fibre system.

Announcing the demonstration, Telstra's director of transport and routing engineering David Robertson noted that it owns the largest amount of fibre in the country, and that “to be able to prove that the fibre we have in the ground can carry terabit services is a fantastic position for us to be in.”

Robertson noted that technologies like the terabit transport are important, since both Internet and non-Internet data traffic are doubling each year.

The terabit channel was demonstrated alongside 40 Gbps and 100 Gbps services running simultaneously on the same fibre. The test took two years to plan and execute.

Ericsson has cemented its position as a key supplier to Telstra in recent years. That position will be strengthened further by the simultaneous announcement that the vendor is to supply two new optical platforms to the carrier: the SPO 1400 metro packet optical transport, and the 300 Gbps MHL 3000 long-haul kit, which was fitted with a terabit line card for the demonstration. ®